Damien Echols, In Conversation with Tara Murtha

In 1994 in West Memphis, Ark., teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. were convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys in what was perceived as a Satanic ritual. The trial, and the defendants, became famous as the subject of a trilogy of HBO documentaries called Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. Echols, accused of being the ringleader, was sentenced to death. But last year, after more than 18 years behind bars, Echols and company were freed from prison under a deal wherein they had to admit guilt in exchange for time served—and an agreement never to sue the state of Arkansas. All three maintain that they are innocent, and new DNA evidence points in other directions. Now, Echols is celebrating the release of Life After Death, a dark, relentless memoir that is a pastiche of passages he wrote while on death row and reflections after release. As part of the 215 Festival, I am honored to host a public Q&A with Echols to discuss his memoir, memory and what life after death looks like to a man who says he was going blind from two decades spent staring only at the walls a few feet away from his face. -Tara Murtha